Little Analiese, one sock on and one sock off, she's just a cuddly little bundle of joy!  Doyle and I weren't able to go out when she was born, and when Megan decided to come this way and visit her family and us, we were very excited.  Every little grandchild is such a blessing, you can never have too many!  I doubt we'll have as many as my grandparents, but we sure love each and every one, so different and so special!  I have wanted to be a Grandma since I was young, and it's every bit as wonderful as I knew it would be!  Megan and Analiese will be visiting for three weeks.  We wish Christopher could be here as well, but we are praying for him as he continues to work on interviews for a job.  It's a lot of work looking for a job, really is a job in itself, if the truth be told.

The weather is definitely late October, vibrant colors, rain and a chill in the air.  This past week we also  celebrated Heather's birthday.......... we're not telling how old she is, but  you can figure it out as she's one year short of age 30.  Life doesn't get much better than grandchildren and grown-up children that you love to be around!

Last week while I was in Santa Fe at Erin and Nathan's I was able to watch Erin work on her pottery wheel for the first time.  I've seen plenty of her work, but actually never seen her take a piece of clay and shape it into a pot.  She was going to show a group of first graders from a school how to make a pot on Friday afternoon.  She was to speak to them about Native American pottery and so she thought it would be fun for them not only to make a pinch pot and a coil pot, but to be able to "decorate" a pot.  In that case she would have to take pots for them to work on, so she made 20 little pots on Thursday night (after she worked all day at Hobby Lobby).  It didn't take her very long (about an hour) to make the 20 pots.  She was such a hit in the First Grade classroom that the children wanted to trade their Art Teacher in for her!   Saturday, Erin had off though and we worked on some "projects", which was a lot of fun.  She is also going to re-upholster some old chairs of mine, so we bought the material for her to do that.  We were able to go to church with them on Sunday before we came home, and that was really nice.  I always like to know where our kids go to church.....just call me nosy, I guess!  I loved the old church where they go, which is right down by the Plaza in downtown Santa Fe.  It's very refreshing for me to go to a church which is beautiful inside and out, and I'm always thankful again that Christians can worship together in so many different ways.

 The canning has gone on........too long and I want to start sewing again.  On that front, my son, Peter has totally redone my study into a sewing room.  He however thinks it looks like a studio, which he says is "way more awesome than a sewing room!"  Well, that may be well and good, but it will be a sewing room for awhile, until I decide to try something else.  I'm looking forward to it!

Jonathan spent the night last night and didn't get to sleep until 1:30 a.m.!  My goodness!  I didn't stay up, but Doyle did.  He said he kept checking on him and he was just lying in bed wide-eyed.  Last night we had several couples over for a potluck and an old fashioned "hymn sing" and communion.  It was lovely and we hope to do it again on the 1st and 3rd Friday evenings.  When we were done and getting ready to disperse from the meeting, Jonathan asked us if we would all hold hands and he wanted to pray.  So of course we told him we'd do that, and he prayed out loud a verbatim prayer (according to his Daddy and Mommy) that his little friend Anna had prayed about a month earlier on a visit with her family to their home. (It was the first time Jonathan had ever prayed out loud in public or at home).  Jonathan has a superb memory, we've always known it, but that just re-confirmed it.  I told Doyle today that we are going to have to be very, very careful what we say and what we promise to Jonathan, because he remembers everything!   He told his Daddy when they left today, that he was going to spend the night tomorrow night at our house too.  We had a good laugh about that!  (And no, he's not going to spend tomorrow night at our house!) 

After canning tomatoes today and Doyle getting a load of wood, and Peter finishing my sewing room, we can sit back and say...............

It's time for the Sabbath!

It was a hard week and we had many disappointments,  but with God's grace we got through it.  Yesterday Heather, Peter and the boys were over. We had a lovely and very productive day even though we were very tired by the end of it.  Peter was working on a project Doyle wanted him to do, and Heather and I put up about 15 quarts of pears. While Heather and I worked on our pears she asked me what she and Peter have been discussing,  "what is God trying to teach our family?"  I answered that God is always trying to lead us to a closer walk with Him.  His goal for us is that we become like Him.  In everything that comes our way, good or bad or indifferent.........the goal is to become more Christlike.  And as my sister was saying, let our prayer for our family be, the "fruits of the spirit".  Ultimately, that is what God wants for us. 

We ended the day with a barbecue and Jonathan spending the night.  It's always fun having him overnight.  Right before he went to bed he had a "very important question" to ask me.  Wondering what it could possibly be, I was completely surprised when he very seriously asked me what we were going to have for "pbrefkast".  Since I knew what he wanted, I told him that "just for him" I would make pancakes.  Satisfied......he went to bed a "very happy little man." 

Last Sunday after church Doyle and I drove up to Sutherland Farms and had lunch at the Purple Cow Cafe.....along with a hundred other people or so. We also bought more green chili and had it roasted.  It was a perfect day and we had a wonderful time. 

After cleaning the house and doing laundry today I took my books and my cup of "Market Spice Tea" from Pike's Place in Seattle (where I bought it) and sat down by our pond.  It was a glorious afternoon as far as the weather, a tad chilly in the shade with my wet hair (just out of the shower), so I cuddled up in a cozy blanket.  I listened to the goats bleating, the wind whispering through the tree and "Papa" goat bleating pitifully.  I watched the vultures circling our pasture and then coming up by the pond as if to ask me "where is our lunch?"  (Lunch btw was not "ready.").  We feed the vultures the skunks we catch in the trap, but Doyle left before 7:00 a.m. this morning and hadn't prepared the skunk for lunch yet. 

I read, talked on the phone and thought about how life can be so hard some times.  I am dealing with sadness and disappointment at how unfair life is at times.  I wanted to scream and throw things and at the same time crawl in a hole and shut the door.  But..........one thing I've learned over time is that rarely helps!  If only we could do what we want when we want it.....but that rarely happens either.  I would love  to just hop on a plane and go visit my son and daughter-in-law....but we don't always get to do what we want to, just like life doesn't always turn out like we want it to. 

I've been really missing my mom lately.  It's so unfair that when I need an older woman to talk to and can truly trust she is not there.  My mom has been gone a long time, but I miss her godly advice, her sense of humor, her unconditional love for me and her steadfastness.  I was blessed to have her in my life as long as I did, and her memories will never leave me.  After my day yesterday, which ended up to be very disappointing (people totally misjudging me), I would have loved to get her "take" on it. 

Doyle came home earlier than I thought today.  He was doing some work for the Ute Tribe up in Ignacio, and we went out to the garden and picked Butternut Squash and cabbage.  Tomorrow I need to do something with the cabbage, the tomatoes and the pears I have.  That should keep me busy and out of trouble and probably keep me from feeling sorry for myself! 

  Yesterday afternoon Doyle and Peter harvested our corn.  It was the worst harvest we've ever had for corn.  It was so pathetic I still can't believe it, none of us can.  Peter said it was a good thing we weren't depending on it to feed us this winter or we'd all starve.  We got 31 bags (quart) of corn, and I split them between Heather and Peter and us.  Usually it takes all afternoon to harvest the corn and put it up, yesterday it took just an hour or two.  We have however grown good beets, carrots, turnips, and  tomatoes (if they have time to ripen before it freezes).
Almost everyone we have talked to this year has said it was their worst garden ever.  I hope it's not a harbinger of things to come.

Pagosa Spings is the world's largest and deepest hot springs and Doyle and I enjoy soaking in the springs when we come to town.  We also love to just visit some of the stores downtown and walk along the river, and have a good cup of coffee sitting by the river in a local cafe.  Today after we had our coffee we stopped at a local real estate office while I took a picture of the horses staked out front.  One of the realtors came outside to talk to us and we swapped stories about our tomatoes.  (She told us that the local chipmunks always ate hers, so she finally gave up trying to grow them here!).  Of course I also had to stop in at the two local thrift stores and I walked away with some great steals.  I also turned my back (hard as it was!), on "steals" that I didn't need anymore since I no longer have an antique store.  Oh that's hard to do, but I really don't need to fill my house up with stuff that I'm not totally crazy about.

We are having a great grape crop this summer.  The pergola or the arbor, which ever you want to call it, has grapes literally hanging so low you can just sit and  pick and eat!  And they are seedless, which makes them so much better in my book!

Doyle and I leave sometime today for a few days away in Pagosa Springs.  We celebrated our 34th wedding anniversary on August 21 and because of other commitments, we couldn't break away last weekend. We are definitely looking forward to some relaxing time in the mountains.

The other morning I looked out my kitchen window and saw the fog across the road in the neighbor's pasture.  I took a picture of it, but it didn't come out as well as I wanted it to.  The fog in the early morning makes the morning extra special here in the southwest.  We just don't get much of it.  It's rained alot lately though and with the warm earth, the cool air, we see it more.

School has started here in New Mexico, the garden is full of wonderful vegetables ready to be picked and canned or frozen.  The dew is heavy on the grass in the mornings and there is a slight nip to the morning air.  It feels like Autumn is fast approaching.............

Daniel spent the day with me on Tuesday and he discovered the rocking chair.  It's been a long time since I've seen a little one enjoy himself so much much on a chair in a long time.  Heather felt bad about leaving him with me since we have company, but it was a great day with him.  I told her that I've never had one-on-one time with just him and so it was a good visit.  Grandchildren are like your own children in many ways.  You love every one that comes, each child is different and you don't love one more than the other.  I am so thankful that two of my grandchildren live so close.  I only hope someday all my grandchildren will live close enough to visit when ever I want to see them.  I truly count each child as a precious gift from God as I know their parents do.  Being a grandmother or rather being a "Nalli" is truly one of God's best gifts!

Yesterday we not only welcomed a new granddaughter we launched a new business.  I've lost count of the businesses we've (or rather, mostly Doyle) have started in our life.  A new business start-up is always risky, but you'd think I'd be used to it by now.  Having a baby is also risky and raising children is very risky too.  But then I think of the alternative to risk, and that just spells "boredom" to me.  I guess it spells "boring" to Doyle too............(but once in awhile "boring" sounds lovely!  Ha!)  I thought it was rather apropos that on the same day a new baby was born, a new business was also born.  Here's to life, risk and buckets of prayer!

Doyle and I took Jonathan to the San Juan County Fair this evening.  Giggles were the order of the day, especially with the geese and chickens.  For some reason they really tickled him.  I was lucky enough to catch him in this  photo in a giggle.  Anyone who has tried to get Jonathan to smile for the camera, let alone laugh, knows how hard it is.  It's not that he doesn't smile or laugh, he just gets dead serious when the camera comes out.  It is so fun to visit a fair with a little guy.  He was invited to get in a pen and pet a pig, (our egg lady's grandchildren won the big prizes for their pigs and she let him in the pen)  pet a chicken, get close to the cows, ducks and rabbits.  I asked him on the way home what was his favorite thing and he said "rabbits."  They are awfully cute!  He got a free Bible from the Gideon's and thought that was pretty awesome.  He got a free balloon and when the lady didn't hear him say "thank you" he  got a little irate.  "I said thank you", he said a little louder!  Thankfully, she heard him the second time.  No telling how loud he would have hollered if she hadn't heard him.  Heather packed him a lunch and while we ate our Navajo Tacos he ate his burrito.  During our picnic at the fair, he snuggled up to me and said, "I just LOVE being with you and Paca!"  Oh, doesn't that just make a grandparent feel good!  (And you know what?  We just LOVE being with Jonathan too!).